Colores – A Celebration of Latino Artists
Above: Wendy Bonilla Belleza en el Desierto 2022. Acrylic, pastel, oil on canvas.
By F. Lennox Campello
A while back, when I was on NPR’s Kojo Nnamdi radio show discussing the DMV’s visual arts scene, as I did every once in a while, the conversation turned to our area’s museums and mainstream media coverage of that segment of the fine arts. I made the observation that most of our local museum curators would rather take a cab to Dulles Airport, then a flight to Berlin, or London, or Madrid, to visit an emerging artist than take a cab to Rockville, or Georgetown, or Alexandria to visit a studio or gallery show of a DMV-based artist.
If today, somewhat remorsefully they would ask me, “sorry Lenster, what show should we go to this month?” I would point them to the beautiful BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland.
This month, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Montgomery County (HCCMC), in partnership with Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce (GGCC) and the aforementioned BlackRock Center for the Arts, all worked together, in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month to assemble Colores, an exhibition “celebrating the vibrant talents of Latino artists residing in Montgomery County. Colores showcases the rich cultural heritage and eclectic creativity that the Hispanic community contributes to our local arts scene.”
“We are thrilled to partner with BlackRock Center for the Arts and the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce to launch this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations,” said Dr. Mauricio Vásquez, Executive Director at HCCMC.
“Colores is more than an art exhibition. It’s a celebration of the diverse stories, experiences, and perspectives of Latino artists in our community. We are grateful for the support of BlackRock Center for the Arts and the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, and we invite everyone to join us in honoring the artistic achievements of our local talent.”
I visited the exhibition, which showcases the ample talent of Rosana Azar, Fausto Bayonet, Wendy Bonilla, Sandra Pérez-Ramos and Roxana Rojas-Luzón.
Pérez-Ramos and Rojas-Luzón are super hard-working, well-known DMV artists whose work is widely exhibited and respected, and I was quite familiar with their visual art. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly impressed by the way and processes that these two artists continue to develop, refine, and improve upon to deliver their intelligent compositions.
Sandra Pérez-Ramos is a highly trained artist with a formidable artistic presence with includes multiple weapons in the arsenal of the fine arts. One of those is a fiber background, which empowers her to deliver gorgeously complex mixed media drawings/paintings that tease at the edge of the imagination.
The work is technically abstract in nature, and a powerful homage to the native Taino people of Puerto Rico (and other Caribbean islands), which is where she was born, yet it plays with our eyes as we struggle to follow the somewhat erotic forms and try to discern what they truly are. It is hypnotic in a way which only a superbly talented artist can deliver. And, are you ready for this… Pérez-Ramos recently had her DNA done and discovered that she is about a quarter Taino!
The art world loves to segregate artists by media, style, etc., and Peruvian-born artist Roxana Rojas-Luzón is perhaps best known for her exceptional collage work. She once noted that she’s “fascinated by the art of collage, and use snippets of magazine paper, fabric, paper painted by my children or by myself, photographs, my own pencil drawings, raw pigment, or anything that enriches the texture and color of my images.”
In this exhibition, Rojas-Luzón offers intelligent mixed media works which allow her to amplify some of her interests, and in an interesting and unplanned confluence of separate interests flowing together, this recent work is heavily influenced by the Nazca lines of her native Peru.
The Nazca lines in southern Peru are a diverse group of pre-Columbian etchings/drawings done into the desert sands by removing rocks and earth to create a “negative” image of about 300 different figures, plants, abstractions and animals; lines which are essentially only visible from the air.
In the same flow of artistic prowess that Pérez-Ramos employs to modernize Taino influences, Rojas-Luzón brings these gorgeous designs into the 21st century with a series of smartly composed works – they are fascinating and memorable!
I also liked the paintings of Wendy Bonilla – I was shocked when I discovered that this talented artist has essentially only been painting since 2019! Rosana Azar and Fausto Bayonet also deliver stimulating and though-provoking paintings that touch two diverse spectrums of the visual arts genre.
About the Author: F. Lennox Campello’s art news, information, gallery openings, commentary, criticism, happenings, opportunities, and everything associated with the global visual arts scene with a special focus on the Greater Washington, DC area has been a premier source for the art community for over 20 years. Since 2003, his blog has been the 11th highest ranked art blog on the planet with over SIX million visitors.